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Woodland Imagery in Northern Art reconnects us with the woodland scenery that abounds in Western painting, from Albrecht Dürer’s intense studies of verdant trees, to the works of many other Northern European artists who captured 'the truth of vegetation' in their work. These incidents of remarkable scenery in the visual arts have received little attention in the history of art, until now. Prosperetti brings together a set of essays which are devoted to the poetics of the woodlands in the work of the great masters, including Claude Lorrain, Jan van Eyck, Jacob van Ruisdael, Peter Paul Rubens, Rembrandt and Leonardo da Vinci, amongst others.
Through an examination of aesthetics and eco-poetics, this book draws attention to the idea of lyrical naturalism as a conceptual bridge that unites the power of poetry with the allurement of the natural world. Engagingly written and beautifully illustrated throughout, Woodland Imagery in Northern Art strives to stimulate the return of the woodlands to the places where they belong — in people’s minds and close to home.
'Woodland Imagery is a beautiful piece of writing. Akin to the living objects that it treats, the book branches out unconfinedly from its core, moving towards the light along varied and lively paths. The author writes in economical sentences pleasing in cadence and rhythm. Her descriptions of woodland paintings are notably sensitive, delightful, and revealing. Academic jargon and endnotes are held to a minimum. These features make the book a joy to read accessible to a broad audience.' – David A. Levine, Historians of Netherlandish Art Reviews
Leopoldine Prosperetti is a writer and academic. She is Instructional Professor in the School of Art at the University of Houston, and has written and edited a number of books including Green Worlds in Early Modern Italy: Art and the Verdant Earth (Amsterdam University Press, 2019) and Landscape and Philosophy in the Art of Jan Brueghel (Ashgate, 2009).